


Poker Night at the Stark Place

by Read_Like_Youre_Running_Out_of_Time (Jantique)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Humor, Poker Nights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 15:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15974753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jantique/pseuds/Read_Like_Youre_Running_Out_of_Time
Summary: Though they're all playing the same game, each of the Avengers goes into it with different expectations, and comes out with different wins - and losses.A Character study.





	Poker Night at the Stark Place

Tony Stark generously offered to let each of the Avengers have their own suite – their own floor! – in the newly (re)built Stark—er, **Avengers** Tower, but no one wanted to live on charity. Or felt really comfortable there, 24/7. Clint bought his apartment building in Bedford-Stuyvesant; Steve got a renovated brownstone in Brooklyn. Natasha preferred to reside within SHIELD property, where she felt safe(r). Thor did keep a suite in the Tower, but was peripatetic, hopping between continents and Realms. It was anyone’s guess when he’d actually be there. Only Bruce stayed. Tony gave him his own lab, which was better than Disneyland. But what was better than Christmas was that Stark actually wanted to be _friends_ with him, not just use him for whatever reason. How could he turn that down? SHIELD was happy, because it meant they knew where he (let’s be honest, where the Hulk) was. And really, where else did he have to go? 

But they all made an effort to spend time together, even when not Assembling. For the sake of the team, they all knew it was important to build an acquaintance, and easiness, if not actual friendship, among themselves. And Tony did enjoy playing the gracious host. So they gathered together for movie night, various food nights and, of course, poker.

Poker Night was Wednesday. Give or take, depending on who was fighting what. Thursdays were good, too. The chips cost $1, $5, and $10. That was it. You could bet as much as you wanted, but chips didn't go any higher than that. This generally kept the pots fairly low, and Stark was smart enough not to bet hundreds, which he knew the others weren’t comfortable with. This was a relief to Steve, Clint, Natasha, and later Bucky, all of whom had plenty of money now, but who vividly remembered not having any, and the wastefulness of gambling it away.

It was a chance to relax, be sociable, have a few drinks and shoot the breeze, talking about mundane things, while watching everyone else's style. (Which, at heart, is what poker is all about.) Dealer picked the game. 

 

TONY: Tony was happy to have friends he didn't have to buy. He was grateful, and so always put out a good spread for them. (Hey, he wasn't trying to _buy_ them, he was just being a good host! That was all right, wasn't it?)

Tony believed he had an excellent poker face, and so he bluffed. Often. Basically, whenever he didn't have a good hand. So he never - well, hardly ever - folded. As people figured this out, they just called him on it every time. Tony didn't care about the money, but he did like winning. He couldn't figure out why he seemed to lose more than he won. Maybe his poker face wasn't that good after all? He'd have to ask Pepper. She could read him like a book – well, no, maybe not Pepper. Maybe Happy. Or Rhodey.

 

NATASHA: Natasha played cutthroat, as she did everything in life, work or play. She understood the value of building up false expectations, but she just could not bring herself to fold a good hand. She had an excellent poker face, but it burned her inside every time someone else bluffed and she bought it. _How could she be so stupid_?! She didn’t really enjoy the _stress_ of playing poker, and would rather beat the shit out of inanimate objects down in the gym. But she recognized that it was a necessary social evil, to spend time _being friendly_ with the people you worked with. Moreover, as the only woman on the team, she needed to make sure that her male colleagues respected her in _all_ areas.

 

BRUCE: Bruce liked Poker Night. It was a friendly atmosphere, and he didn’t let it stress him. He went in with the firm resolve that the chips meant nothing. He ate some junk food, drank a beer, and talked about trivial topics with his friends. His _friends_. Occasionally he folded a winning hand to let Tony win. It was worth it to see the smile on his face. Best of all, the Big Guy approved of the entire state of affairs. (Especially the junk food part.) So everyone was happy. Win-win.

 

STEVE: It didn't occur to Tony to institute a "No cheating" rule with Captain America at the table. Just look at those baby-blue eyes, the very symbols of America, Mom, and Apple Pie! Who would dare cheat with Cap at the table? Answer - a kid from Brooklyn who played poker with the US Army, that's who! 

And he was _good_. He lost more hands than he won, rarely took a really big pot, but always managed to be ahead at the end of the night. It took weeks before Clint, who had the sharpest eyes in the group, finally called him on it, leaning back in his chair and oh-so-casually asking, "Hey, Tony, this is a _friendly_ game, right?"

Stark's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, it's _supposed_ to be." He wouldn't be a bit surprised if Romanov was cheating and he'd missed it, but....

"I'm not accusing _anyone_ of, y'know, cheating," Barton waved his hand vaguely in the air and stared pointedly at the ceiling, "but we're all on our _**honor**_ " - he stressed the word heavily - "to play fair, right? Or am I wrong about that?" 

When they heard the word "honor", several pairs of eyes widened. When you heard that word, you just naturally thought of Steve Rogers. Or at least Captain America. (No matter how much Steve stressed the difference between the two, people _just didn't get it_!) Meanwhile, Rogers kept his mouth shut, thinking about that song he'd heard about a gambler, "know when to walk away; know when to run."

Tony was furious, but he didn't push it. Different times, different rules, he knew. He met everyone's eyes in turn and said, "Okay, new rule. **HOUSE** rule. If anyone needs money to make the rent or buy groceries, come to me; I'll give you a loan. You don’t even need a reason, just ask! THIS HERE is a friendly game; absolutely no cheating allowed. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

No one did. Clint didn't mention it again, which Tony (correctly) assumed meant that it was no longer a problem. Steve did keep winning more than he lost, though. He was good; he'd HAD to be. He had learned to play for groceries, and later cigarettes and chocolate bars. His ma had always told him not to gamble, but it wasn't gambling if you knew you would win, right? The end justified the means. But if his Honor was on the table, he wouldn't gamble with that. 

 

CLINT: Clint enjoyed the weekly games. He didn't care about money, other than what it could do for him. Food - now, food was a different matter. He didn't throw food away, and he wasn't ashamed to say that he still kept a power bar under his pillow. And in his Go bag. And one in his quiver. That was what years of never having quite enough to eat did for you. But now that he had food, shelter and enough arrows (which Stark was happy to supply), he didn't care about money _per se_ , especially when represented by colorful plastic chips. It didn't bother him to gamble money he'd never expected to have. So he frequently went all in. If he won, that was great. If he lost, he just shrugged - there was always next time!

It wasn't just that Clint had the sharpest eyes of the group. He noticed, he observed, he took what he saw and THOUGHT about when it meant. He needed to know all about his new comrades - could he trust them? How far, and under what circumstances? How were they likely to behave if _this_ happened, or _that_? So he didn't mind losing money. Intel was the new currency, and worth far more than coins.

 

THOR: It was Absolutely True that Thor had never played poker before coming to Midgard. HOWEVER. He was over 1,000 years old. He was _well_ acquainted with games of chance, and had played many of those games with and against his brother Loki. He quickly realized that poker with a game of luck, gambling, and who was the best liar. It took him only a minute more to memorize the order of winning hands. He could do this.

Since he was no longer a child, he had learned the value of delayed gratification. He didn't need to have everything given to him all at once, when patience would serve him better. Something mortals apparently called "playing the long con".

So he took his own sweet time learning the order of hands, frequently asking for help and betting wildly inappropriately. When he had had more than sufficient time to learn that, he still let his tells show. Loki had taught him that. ("If they see you scratch your ear, they won't pay attention when you tap your foot.") He won occasionally, not often, exhibiting great glee when he did. He could not seem to learn to keep what Friend Tony called a "poker face". Plastic chips - bah! Someday there would be a pot truly worth winning, more than mere chips. _That_ was when he would make his move.

The other Avengers, individually and severally, agreed that they would be doing Thor no kindness by letting him win. Poker was a game of skill, cunning, a facsimile of life. Thor needed to learn to play - and to lose, if necessary. So they had no qualms about taking his money. 

Clint did, too, but he kept an eye on the demigod. He watched his ear scratching – and his foot tapping. When Thor made his play, as he someday surely would, Clint would either back him or fold and run. Meanwhile, Clint reckoned he knew what to throw away – his money, and what to keep – his team. 

 

END


End file.
